Mr. Simpleton | Aghay-e Haloo (1971)

Synopsis

A simple man from the country comes to Tehran to find a wife. He meets a prostitute and asks her to marry him. Then he finds out about the woman’s past.

Nonetheless he asks her to reform and marry him. However, the woman’s lover beats up the simple man. Still, the simple man refuses to lose his good will but returns to his hometown.



Cast: Ali Nassirian, Ezatollah Entezami, Fakhri Khorvash, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz, Ezatollah Navid, Esmail Davarfar, Enayat Bakhshi, Rogheyeh Chehreh-Azad, Asghar Semsarzadeh, Nabipour ...

Cinematography: Houshang Baharlou

The film received the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow Film Festival in 1971 and prizes for the best film, best direction, best screenplay, best actress and best supporting actor (Ezzatolah Entezami) at the Third National Film Festival “Sepas” in 197l. Noted for the fame of the director.

Aghaye Hallou (Mr. Simpleton) made in 1970, was based on a story by Ali Nassirian, the well known actor who had appeared in The Cow as one of the villagers. Nassirian plays the title character, a simple man from the provinces who goes off to Tehran in search of a wife.

Undaunted by the theft of his suitcase and rough treatment at the hands of local hustlers, he walks into a dress maker's shop to ask the cost of a wedding gown.

There he spots the woman of his dreams (played by Fakhri Khorvash), but she turns out to be a prostitute who not only rejects his marriage proposal but ridicules him mercilessly and takes his money.

As he makes his way home (losing his last possession, a book of poems, on the way) Mr. Naive is, in Mehrjui's words, "forces to question his simple view of the world."

Mr. Simpleton was screened in 1971 at the Sepas Film Festival in Tehran, taking three major prizes (including best film and best director); in Moscow the same year it received a special jury prize.

Mehrjui had set out to make a the same year it received a special jury prize. Mehrjui had set out to make a "no problem" film, and Mr. Naive was clearly cast in a lighter mood of social criticism than The Cow. Some European critics found the script (written by Mehrjui and Nassirian) somewhat weak.

Nonetheless, those who saw it in Pais during the Iranian Cinema Week in 1973 praised Mehrjui' s masterful direction, particularly in the creation of character types and the handling of comic situations. Nassiarian' s performance was also much admired, as was Entezami's in dual roles as greedy innkeeper and an equally greedy real estate broker.

Drawing a parallel with the tragicomedies of the Italian neorealist, Christian Bosseno in Revue du Cinema called Mr. Naive "a striking tableau of truth about the lower class of Tehran and its marginal elements." -- Nima

Read about this film

Country: Iran
Language: Farsi
Color: Black & White
Runtime: 120 min.